Turbine engines, and particularly gas or combustion turbine engines, are rotary engines that extract energy from a flow of combusted gases passing through a fan with a plurality of blades, then into the engine through a series of compressor stages, which include pairs of rotating blades and stationary vanes, through a combustor, and then through a series of turbine stages, also consisting of rotating blades and stationary vanes.
In operation, turbine engines operate at increasingly hotter temperatures as the gasses flow from the compressor stages to the turbine stages. Various cooling circuits for the components exhaust to the main flowpath and must be provided with cooling air at sufficient pressure to prevent ingestion of the hot gases therein during operation.
For example, seals are provided between the stationary turbine nozzles and the rotating turbine blades to prevent ingestion or backflow of the hot gases into the cooling circuits. Improving the ability of these seals to prevent ingestion or backflow increases engine performance and efficiency.